1. Technical Field
The present invention relates to a connector housing that includes a housing body and a fitting operation lever for fitting the housing body and a mating housing body to each other.
2. Background Art
In the background art, there have been proposed connector housings including fitting operation levers. For example, as shown in FIG. 7, one (hereinafter referred to as “background-art housing 100”) of the background-art connector housings includes a housing body 110 and a fitting operation lever 120. The housing body 110 receives terminal fittings connected to end portions of cables 210. The fitting operation lever 120 is attached to side surfaces 111 of the housing body 110 rotatably.
The fitting operation lever 120 has a pair of left and right swinging portions 121, an operating rod portion 122, and cam grooves 123. The pair of left and right swinging portions 121 are attached to the side surfaces 111 of the housing body 110 rotatably. The pair of left and right swinging portions 121 are connected to the operating rod portion 122 so that the operating rod portion 122 can serve as an operating portion for swinging the swinging portions 121. As the swinging portions 121 are swung, connecting pins 313 of a mating housing body 310 are pulled into the cam grooves 123. When the swinging portions 121 of the fitting operation lever 120 are rotated in a state that the housing body 110 and the mating housing body 310 are aligned with each other in a fitting start position, the housing body 110 and the mating housing body 310 are fitted to each other (e.g. see JP-A-9-223540).
A curved portion 114 is formed in each of the side surfaces 111 of the housing body 110 of the background-art housing 100 so that a gap S1 between the curved portion 114 and the corresponding swinging portion 121 increases gradually from a position closer to a rotatory center of the swinging portion 121 toward a circumferential edge portion of the swinging portion 121.
In the background-art housing 100, a foreign substance such as a cable routed around the housing body 110 may be guided by one of the curved portions 114 to intrude into the corresponding gap S1 between the curved portion 114 and the swinging portion 121, and unintended external force may therefore act on the swinging portion 121. When such external force acts on the swinging portion 121, there is a fear of dislocation (detachment) of the fitting operation lever 120 from the housing body 110, damage on the swinging portion 121, etc.